The Worst of Everything

Tag Archives: world

Tragedy too often strikes our schools and universities in the form of a crazed killer or killers. Here is a list of the worst school and university massacres, shootings and killings, both in the United States and around the world.

Beslan, Russia
September 1, 2004

The worst school massacre of all time took place when Cechen rebels took more than 1,100 hostage at School Number 1 in Beslan, an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation. After the third day of a standoff, Russian forces stormed the building; the rebels set off explosives and a gunbattle ensued. 334 hostages were killed, including 186 children.

Peshawar, Pakistan
December 16, 2014

Taliban militants attacked a school in Pakistan, killing 145, including 132 children

Bath, Michigan
May 18, 1927

By far the worst school massacre in US history took place in the tiny town of Bath, Michigan in 1927. There, an angry school board member named Andrew Kehoe blew up the town’s school, killing 45 and wounding 58. Most of the victims were kindergarten through sixth grade students. A secondary explosion killed Kehoe and the school Superintendent.

April 16, 2007
Blacksburg, Virginia

A student gunman killed 33 in dorms and a nearby classroom building. He then killed himself.

April 26, 2002
Erfurt Germany

A former student kills 18, including himself at a school in eastern Germany.

March 13, 1996
Dunblane, Scotland

Sixteen children and a teacher are killed by a gunman, who then kills himself.

April 20, 1999
Littleton, Colorado

In what now is known as the Columbine Massacre, 13 are killed and 22 wounded by two gunmen.

August 1, 1966
Austin, Texas

From the observation deck of the University of Texas’ tower, Charles Whitman killed 16 and wounded 31 in a shooting rampage that lasted for 96 minutes.

March 21, 2005
Red Lake, Minnesota

A sixteen year old kills his grandfather and a friend, then heads to school where kills seven others. The massacre ends when he turns the gun on himself.

The FBI classifies a “spree killer” as having committed two or more murders without a cooling off period. This distinguishes spree killers from serial killers. Its also useful to distinguish between spree killers and mass murderers who committed their heinous crimes as part of a systemic effort by a government or organization. This list also does not include acts of terrorism, but “criminal” activity. Here is a list of the world’s worst spree killers in modern history from around the world:

1.
Uiryong, South Korea, 1982
Woo Bom Kon kills 57 with rifles and grenades over an eight hour period outside Seoul. He blew himself up to end the rampage.

This list contains only disasters involving civilian ships in peacetime. Military vessels and munitions ships are a separate issue.

1.
MV Dona Paz
Philippines
Dec. 20, 1987
4,341 Casualties

4,341 died when the passenger ferry Dona Paz sank after a collision with an oil tanker.

2. SS Kiangya
China
Dec. 4, 1948
2750 – 3920 casualties

While the cause of the sinking of the Kiangya is unknown, the suspicion is that it was the result of a left-over WWII Japanese mine. The exact death toll is also unknown, but the low end it thought to be 2,750 and the high 3,920.

Early steamships (as well as early railroads) had issues with boiler explosions, as with the case of the Sultana. 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers died when the steamship exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.

5. Tek Sing
Indonesia
Feb. 6, 1822
1,600 casualties

When the Chinese junk Tek Sing struck a reef near Indonesia, it sank and left some 1,600 dead.

At the time the world’s largest passenger ship, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. 1,532 were killed. Thanks to books and movies, this is the most famous of shipwrecks, but certainly not the worst in terms of casualties.

7. Toya Maru
Japan
September 26, 1954
1, 153 casualties

The Toya Maru sank during Typhoon Marie in the Tsugaru Strait, taking some 1,153 with it.

8. RMS Empress of Ireland
Canada
May 29, 1914
1,012 casualties

A collision with the SS Storstad on the St. Lawrence River sank the Empress of Ireland, and claimed 1,012 lives.

10. Al salam Boccaccio 98
Egypt
Feb. 3, 2006
1,000

The passenger ferry Al Salam Boccaccio 98 sank on the red sea on its way from Saudi Arabia to Egypt.The incident started with a fire and led to the ship capsizing due to seawater taken in during firefighting efforts.

The earliest recorded rail deaths may have occurred in 1650 in Whickham, England, when two boys were killed by a wagon on a wood coal tramway. In 1815, also in England, 13 – 16 people were killed by a boiler explosion of the experimental locomotive “Brunton’s Mechanical Traveller”. Since then, things have gotten worse. Here are the worst rail disasters of all time, listed by number of deaths. Note that a great many of these occurred in times of war, when large numbers of people were being transported by rail.

Stuck by a tsunami wave created by the Indian Ocean earthquake, the Queen of the Sea was caught in the rising waters. Believing that it would be safe from the wave, hundreds of locals climbed aboard. Unfortunately, it was swept away, and 1,700 were killed. The victims primarily were in the eight cars, where they were unable to open the doors and drowned.

2)
Bihar Rail Disaster
India, 6 June 1981
800 – 1,000+ Deaths

A passenger train carrying at least 800 derailed on a bridge and plunged into the Bagmati River. Only 200 bodies were recovered.

An overloaded train carrying 800 – 1000 French soldiers returning home from North East Italy during World War I suffered brake failure and crashed while descending into a valley. As a result of the fire and wreckage, only 425 of the bodies could be identified.

During the First World War, a train carrying as many as 1,000 passengers—mostly soldiers and civilians fleeing a German advance—suffered brake failure on a 6.7% grade. To avoid collision with a second train at the bottom, the runaway was switched onto a loop. The runaway train derailed and caught fire.

In the midst of the Mexican Revolution, a train carrying the families of the troops of Venustiano Carranza left Colima for Guadalajara. The train lost its brakes on a steep descent, jumped the tracks and plunged into a canyon. Some 300 survived.

Two passing trains carrying children on holiday to the Black Sea threw sparks near a leaky liquid petroleum gas pipeline. The resulting explosion—the equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb—killed at least 575 and wounded 700 others.

After a train stalled on a steep gradient in the Armi tunnel, carbon monoxide fumes from its engines killed 426, many riding the train illegally. The carbon monoxide was exacerbated by the poor grade coal used as a result of war shortages.

A cooking gas cylinder explosion set the train on fire, burning seven third class carriages to cinders. There was no passenger list, so estimates run to as high as 1,000 deaths on the grossly overcrowded train.

The World’s Worst Floods
The Deadliest Floods As Measured By Death Toll
The World’s Worst Floods
The Deadliest Floods As Measured By Death Toll

Throughout history, floods have proven to be the deadliest natural disasters. This is mainly due to the high population densities around rivers. When well-behaved, rivers provide the resources needed for agriculture, transportation, and industry. It is no accident that all of the ancient civilizations rose around rivers.

It also should be noted that not all of the dead were the victims of the initial floodwaters. Disease and famine that followed the disasters probably killed more than the floodwaters themselves.

Flooding disasters primarily as a result of typhoons or hurricanes have been excluded from this list and are instead included on the list of worst hurricane disasters.

The Huang He River is prone to flooding because of the broad expanse of plain that lies around it. One of the major reasons for the flooding is the high silt content that gives the river its yellow tint (and thus its name). The silt—which constitutes as much as 60% of its volume—builds up until the river actually is higher than the surrounding land. The tendency to flood is exacerbated by ice dams which block the river in Mongolia; the dams back up the water, and then release devastating walls of water when they break.

The history of flooding has prompted the Communist Chinese government to embark on a program of building dams for flood control. The dams, however, have not proven entirely effective and have been the target of criticism from environmentalists.

The 1938 flood of the Huang He was caused by Nationalist Chinese troops under Chiang Kai-Shek when they broke the levees in an attempt to turn back advancing Japanese troops. The strategy was partly successful. By 1940, the Japanese were essentially in a stalemate with Chinese forces.

4.
Huang He (Yellow) River, China
1642
Death Toll: 300,000

Chinese rebels destroy the dikes along the city of Kaifeng, flooding the surrounding countryside.

5.
Ru River, Banqiao Dam, China
1975
Death Toll: 230,000

This flood was caused by the collapse of the Banquia Dam, along with several others, following a heavy rain caused by a typhoon. It is the worst dam related collapse in history.

6.
Yangtze River, China
1931
Death Toll: 145,000

Although the Huang He has caused more deaths, the Yangtze has had more than 1,000 recorded floods.

7.
The Netherlands and England
1099
Death Toll: 100,000

A combination of high tides and storms flooded the Thames and the Netherlands, killing 100,000.

8.
The Netherlands
1287
Death Toll: 50,000

A seawall on the Zuider Zee failed, flooding the low-lying polder.

9.
The Neva River, Russia
1824
Death Toll: 10,000

An ice dam clogged the Neva, flooding nearby cities.

10.
The Netherlands
1421
Death Toll: 10,000

The failure of a seawall on the Zuider Zee flooded the Dutch lowlands.

The worst earthquakes in history, in terms of the death toll have occurred in China. In addition to lying along the earthquake prone “ring of fire”, China also has historically had a high population density. This virtually ensure that the highest earthquake casualties will be in China. It also is helpful that the Chinese have long had efficient bureaucracies, which were able to document the casualties as long ago as the 1500s.

2.
Tangshan, China
July 28, 1976
Magnitude: 7.5
Death Toll: 242,000
The casualties in this may have been higher. The Chinese government is thought to have deliberately understated the numbers for political reasons.

1.
November 13, 1970
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)
500,000 – 1,000,00
The deadliest hurricane on record struck East Pakistan, flooding the low lying areas. At least 500,000 deaths are blamed on the storm, with some estimates rising as high as 1 million. The storm also had historical consequences: the apparent indifference of Muslim West Pakistan to the plight of the East Pakistanis has been blamed in part for the eventual separation of East Pakistan, which now is Bangladesh.

5.
May 3, 2008
Burma (Myannmar)
138, 366
The true count from Cyclone Nargis may never be known.

6.
June 6, 1882
Bombay, India
At least 100,000

7.
October 5, 1864
Calcutta, India
50,000 to 70,000

8.
June, 1965
East Pakistan
35,000 to 40,000

9.
October 16, 1942
Bengal, India
35,000

10.
May 28 – 29, 196
East Pakistan
22,000

11.
October 10 – 12, 1780
The Caribbean
This is another hurricane with historical consequences. The worst hurricane in Atlantic history, it killed more than 20,000 when it slammed into Martinique and the Barbados. It also severely damaged a British fleet in the area, shifting the balance of power to the French. This ultimately led to the defeat of the British fleet in the Battle of the Chesapeake and Washington’s victory at Yorktown.

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About Epic Disasters

For students, journalist, and the interested, this site attempts to put it all in perspective by listing the worst natural and human disasters. Too often, we imagine that which is happening to us is the worst that has ever occurred. Most often, that is not the case.